Dead-Wolf: Derek Hale
by AeydenOrion
Summary: Cora is dying, the alpha pack is closing in, and Derek's running out of ideas. Until Deaton shows up unexpectedly with a not so unfamiliar stranger he claims is the answer to their prayers. [DerekXOC]
1. Thurisaz

**Peter POV**

"Hey, Doc. Uh..what are you doing here?"  
I heard Scott say, 'causing me to look up from the book I had been reading. The vet nodded, acknowledging Scott's greeting, walking the rest of the way into the room.  
"Now's really not the time." I warned, nodding my head in Derek's direction where he sat brooding over Cora's current condition.  
"That's actually why I'm here. I know someone that could possibly help."  
A low growl emitted itself from Derek's corner of the room.  
"And you're just deciding to share this now?!" My nephew yelled, his voice filling the room.  
The vet instinctively took a step back, heaving a sigh.  
"Well my contact here is rather good at now being found." He said nodding behind him.

A tall figure seeming to appear out of the shadows themselves came sauntering forward with quiet calculated steps, a hood obscuring their features. A pale hand reached up, pushing back the hood revealing an equally pale face that stood in stark contract against a shock of unruly ginger hair. She was striking and I couldn't shake the familiarity of the stranger's seemingly unreadable face.

Hearing my nephew's breath hitch and heart rate increase from where he had came to stand beside me only made that feeling grow. The woman shifted, capturing my gaze. Gold eyes starting into blue and that's when it hit me.  
_Those eyes.  
_So gold that they appeared to be glowing and surrounded by a ring of deep blood red.  
My stomach dropped and my heart found it's way into my throat as the words feel from my lips.  
"Is that you, Little Wolf?" Hearing Derek step forward, signalling to me our shared thought, our shared hope.  
A familiar smile broke out across the woman's face, momentarily making me forget how to breath.  
"But how is that- How are you- I watched you die." Derek sputtered out, his words running together, 'causing the betas in the room to look to their alpha in confusion, in shock of how small his voice sounded.

The woman ripped her eyes from me, turning them on my broken nephew, her face matching his own as the guilt came of her in waves. I watched as Derek closed the distance between them in three short strides pulling her to him, holding her tightly almost as if he feared she'd disappear back into the shadows. He buried his face into her fire-y hair, sniffing back the tears I knew had already fallen down my cheek.  
"God, it's you." He whispered. "It's really you."  
She nodded, burying her face into the crook of his neck.  
"It's me, Der. It's me." Came her muffled but ever strong voice, a sound that hadn't graced my ears in over ten years, sending my heart right into my stomach.  
Not wanting to impose on the two's much deserved reunion but not being able to help myself I strode over to them, grabbing them both into a hug, 'causing the girl I had always seen as my daughter to laugh as she leaned back into me. And from the smile that graced my nephew's face I knew he had missed hearing that beautiful sound of her melodious laughter just as much as I.

Reluctantly I pulled back facing the confused but sympathetic faces in the room before my eyes came to rest on the vet. Not wanting to ruin the moment but not being able to hold back the thought anymore, I stared him down.  
"Is this borrowed time? Or is this permanent?"  
Before the man could even open his mouth Aeyden cut him off.  
"Sorry, Petey. But you're stuck with me this time."  
I laughed, a smirk forming on my lips at her mocking.  
"Good."

"Not to put a damper on this love fest, and no offense intended, but what exactly is an omega supposed to do for us?" Issac said in his ever arrogant tone.  
Aeyden rolled her eyes, pulling a pack of cigarettes from her back pocket, giving Derek a look that said, 'I'll be on the porch, come find me once you've dealt with the runts," turning on her heel and leaving the room. Derek huffed, turning on Issac, but before he could even begin to rip the beta a new one, a low angry growl came from the direction of the porch 'causing everyone to look up startled at the sheer ferocity of it. The vet was slowly backing away from the direction of the porch, his heart rate irratic.  
"Looks like she's seen the door." He said, crossing his arms to try and keep his hands from shaking.  
"You didn't think to mention the alpha pack?"  
"I knew there were things I couldn't tell her and she needed all the facts before storming in there. She needed a strategy."  
I shook my head.  
"Oh, you're a dead man." I laughed, quickly joining the rest of the room on the porch.

Aeyden growled, a low menacing growl, at the alpha pack's symbol that was scratched into the door, her claws lengthening as she spoke.  
"I know you can hear me and I'm only gonna say this once, so listen up, you sick son of a bitch!"  
"Oh, I like her." I heard Stiles mutter from behind Scott, shrugging as everyone gave him the, 'if you know what's good for you then you'll shut up,' look.  
"You've threatened my family, my mate, and his pack..." She said digging her claws into the wood of the door, dragging them over top of the alpha pack's symbol, creating what looked like a thurisaz rune.  
Realization hit me of what the symbol was, for it only to be confirmed by the now very anxious vet that was looking everywhere but my eyes. There was destruction on the horizon and she was the storm.  
"You wanted power, you wanted a true alpha? Well, come and claim me!" She dared.  
A strong howl from the distance met her words as an answer and I watched as the gold in her eyes disappeared leaving behind a glowing red. Whipping her head into the direction of the howl, her fangs extending letting loose a howl of her own to rip through the night in return, as if to say She was _the _alpha, She was _the Dead-wolf,_and She was coming.


	2. Haunted

_Disclaimer: Obviously I'm not affiliated with Teen Wolf in any way, I don't own it.  
Shout out to: If-We-Burn-You-With-Us123, you're excitement got me excited about this story again, thank you!  
_

* * *

Aeyden went down willingly, onto her knees in submission, as Kate placed the gun to her forehead.  
"You always loved him didn't you?" Kate laughed, her face twisting up into her sick version of a smile.  
"And he never saw it. He was too occupied by the thought of _me_ in his bed, to worry about _you_, let alone hunters. Too blinded by what he wanted to see that he missed all the warnings signs, falling right into my trap. The irony of it all, it could keep me going for a lifetime."

Aeyden bit back a growl, her stomach twisting in a rage. Kate was baiting her, that much was obvious. She offered no retort, much to Kate's disappoint. Clenching her fists tight, digging her now extended claws into the her palms to keep from fully shifting, as she silently weighed her options. She could easily break the hunter's neck and get out of there, but at what cost? Surely that would raise suspicions, make the others ask the question why she had waited so long to break free if she had been able to do so all along. _No._ She had to keep the focus the on her, she had to make them believe they'd won, long enough for him to get away.  
But Aeyden wasn't stupid. She had no doubt those bullets were laced with wolfsbane. And it didn't matter how strong the wolf, a wolfsbane bullet to the brain, that wasn't something you came back from.

But this was for him, _this was for Derek._

Aeyden exhaled sharply, a breath she hadn't realized she was holding as she pushed her forehead flush against the barrel of the gun. Her gaze never wavered, she may have been playing the submissive role, but she had the power here, and she would never give Kate the impression otherwise. Aeyden heard the hammer of the gun click and couldn't help but wonder why a trained hunter wouldn't already have their gun cocked. Had she planned something like this, hoped for it maybe?  
She knew Derek was nearby, she could feel him. So with his smile on her mind and his voice in her ears she finally closed her eyes, using her last breath as a final plea. "Forgive me."  
The shot rang through the woods. Derek knees hit the forest floor, his head in his hands, as if the bullet had echoed . And maybe it had.  
His family was gone, her family was gone, she was gone. He had nothing left. Derek was alone.

"Forgive me." She had said.  
_Forgive Me._

* * *

Derek's shot up in bed, reeling from the same nightmare he'd had so many times before. _Forgive Me._ The words haunted him, still ringing through his ears even now.  
He had hated her. Hated her for not finding another way, hated her for having to be so infuriatingly heroic, but most of all he hated her for leaving him. It had taken him years to stop being angry with her, for him to understand what she had truly done for him, _why_ she had done it. Aeyden had sacrificed herself for him, had taken a bullet for him and unknowingly done so for Laura and Cora as well because he was her mate. And with her dying breath she had begged his forgiveness.  
Derek heaved a sigh, shoving his face into his hands trying to quell his restless mind.

"Derek?"  
His head shot up in the direction where the voice had came from, only to find Aeyden leaning against the door frame to his bedroom. He tilted his head at her in a questioning manner, still finding it hard to believe she was actually here, that she was in fact alive. She fiddled with her hair, pulling the half braided mess back into a bun at the nape of her neck,before crossing her arms.  
"Your, uh, heartbeat was erratic. I, uh-"  
She trailed off, sending him a worried look, before crossing the threshold, making her way over to the bed and sitting beside him. Derek couldn't help but lose himself in the sight before him, he had so many questions, so many things he needed to say, but where did he even begin? He was brought out of his internal struggle by her shifting on the bed. His breath caught in his throat as she leaned her forehead against his own. He sighed, leaning into her, astonished at how the simple gesture put him at ease. Whether that was the mate bond or just her, Derek didn't know, he suspected it was a bit of both.  
"You dreamt of the fire."

Aeyden hadn't meant it as a question, that was evident by her tone. He thought about denying it, but all his resolve flew out the window when he finally met her eyes. Her eyes had always been the subject of talk, at school the kids would whisper about the weird girl with the demon eyes, in the streets mothers would tuck their children into their sides as she passed. But Derek had only ever seen them for what they were, _beautiful_, just like her. But the eyes that he found staring back at him tonight were different, they didn't seem to catch the light like the once had, the red spilling into the gold more than he ever remembered, threatening to overtake it. They were _haunted_, just like his own.  
"How did you know?"  
"Because every time I close my eyes, I can see them burning."

Derek swallowed hard, pulling her body flush against his, wrapping her up safe in his arms. Aeyden understood his pain, she had always understood his pain. She saw him, she _knew_ him.  
"I see you." He confessed. "And I swear I can still hear the gunshot ringing in my ears when I open my eyes."  
Her hands clenched into tight fists around Derek's tank top, pulling him closer to her, whispering her remorse into his neck. Derek's body stiffened at the amount of guilt she seemed to harbor, pulling back from her ever so slightly, so that he could see her face.  
"Hey, Aeyden look at me." He said sliding his index finger under her chin, tilting her face so he could see her eyes once again.  
The expression he was met with successfully extinguished any anger left residing in him over her past decision. It was clear to him now it wasn't just him her death had left broken. Until now he had never thought of what it must have been like to have been the one staring down the barrel of the gun, knowing those were your final moments. Was she afraid, had she found relief? But in the end she hadn't even been able to find peace in death.  
"There's nothing to forgive." He said, kissing her forehead before promptly lowering his mouth on to hers.  
There was a sense of urgency to the kiss, a hunger, as if to say 'I'm not losing you this time.'  
Derek let out a growl against her lips, his wolf swelling with pride that his mate had not rejected his advance, only to receive one from her in return. He felt her smile against his lips before pulling back and placing her head on his chest. Derek brought his arms back around her, placing his chin on top of her head, as he laid back against the headboard bringing her with him.  
"Besides." Derek voice suddenly broke the silence, causing Aeyden to lift her head up from his chest to look at him. "I would have done the same."  
Aeyden offered him a small smile before returning to her previous position, closing her eyes with a sigh.  
"I know, Derek. I know."

* * *

_A/N: This one was all sorts of heavy, sorry. So what did you think of Aeyden's 'infuriatingly heroic' (as Derek likes to put it) death?__  
Thank you all so very very much to those of you that reviewed, followed, and faved, it means a lot!_


End file.
